Chapter 5: Emergency Protocol – The Game Begins

Mark's heart pounded like a drum as the notification blinked menacingly before his eyes. Aya and Byte were fast asleep, curled in awkward positions amidst scattered cables, snacks, and half-built schematics. He sat up, rubbing his temples, but the notification didn't disappear. It hovered in the air, a reminder that something—or someone—had just discovered them.

"Emergency Lockdown Initiated."

He stared at the flashing alert, unable to believe his bad luck. They hadn't even made it to the Nexus, and already the System had sniffed them out.

What the hell did we trip?

Suddenly, his interface flickered. The garage around him seemed to warp and dissolve, pixels scattering like sand in the wind. It was as if reality itself were glitching—like an old computer screen struggling to stay on.

Mark jumped to his feet, panic bubbling in his chest. He slapped Aya's shoulder. "Aya! Wake up! Something's—"

Before he could finish, the world around them collapsed.

A Virtual Death Trap

Mark's vision darkened. When he came to, he wasn't in the parking garage anymore. He found himself standing on an impossibly high platform suspended above a void of swirling data streams and glowing grids. Aya and Byte appeared beside him, disoriented but alive.

"What... the hell...?" Byte muttered, clutching his head. "Where are we?"

Aya cursed under her breath, scanning their surroundings. "This is a containment zone. The System's trying to trap us in a virtual construct."

Mark's pulse quickened. "What do you mean? Like a firewall?"

"Something like that," Aya said grimly. "Except this firewall doesn't block you—it locks you inside and forces you to play by its rules. Fail... and you get erased."

Mark felt a chill crawl down his spine. "Wait. You mean permanently? Like, brain-meltingly dead?"

Aya nodded, her face unusually serious. "Yeah. Welcome to the System's 'no respawn' zone."

Byte staggered to his feet, his usual grin gone. "So... how do we get out of here?"

Aya clenched her fists. "There's always a way. We just need to find the glitch."

Mark groaned. "You mean I need to find it, don't you?"

Aya winked. "You catch on fast, genius."

Level 1: The Gauntlet

A loud chime echoed through the virtual space. Glowing platforms began appearing in the air around them, forming a path through the void. Strange mechanical creatures—somewhere between drones and beasts—spawned on distant ledges, their glowing eyes locked onto the trio.

A disembodied voice echoed around them:

"Welcome, Unauthorized Users. To escape, you must complete the System Gauntlet. Failure will result in permanent deletion."

"Gauntlet?" Mark muttered. "That's ominous."

Aya smirked, cracking her knuckles. "It's just like a video game. We move fast, take down enemies, and keep advancing. Easy, right?"

Byte raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Yeah, except if we die here, we're toast."

Aya rolled her eyes. "Details, Byte. Details."

Mark shook his head, glancing at the glowing path ahead. The platforms flickered like unstable code, as if they could vanish at any moment. "Alright, no time to waste. Let's move."

Aya grinned. "That's the spirit!"

They leaped onto the first platform just as the drone-beasts screeched to life. The creatures rushed toward them, metal limbs clanking and glowing jaws snapping. Mark's interface flashed with prompts as the System analyzed each enemy.

Adaptation is Key

"Mark!" Aya shouted, dodging a drone's swipe. "Can you crack these things?"

Mark scanned the nearest enemy, his mind racing. The System's defenses were like complex puzzles—layers of code wrapped around each creature. But there it was... the glitch.

"I see it!" Mark shouted. "These things have weak points—data clusters embedded in their cores!"

Aya grinned. "Then let's break some code."

Mark raised his hand, activating his interface. A glowing script appeared in the air, lines of code rushing by. He hacked into the drone nearest him, overriding its core functions. The creature twitched, sparks flying from its joints, before it exploded into a shower of pixels.

Aya whooped. "Nice one, genius! Do it again!"

Mark felt a strange rush of excitement. In the real world, he was just a broke computer science student. But here? Here, he was a goddamn wizard.

Byte, meanwhile, used his own unique talents. He summoned holographic decoys, confusing the creatures long enough for Aya to bash their heads in with wild glee. "Hah! Take that, you pixelated freaks!"

The trio fought their way through the gauntlet, leaping from platform to platform as drones swarmed around them. Mark hacked enemies left and right, his fingers flying over invisible keys. Aya fought like a storm, her fists glowing with energy bursts. Byte's illusions kept the beasts off-balance, buying them precious seconds to advance.

But the further they went, the harder the challenges became.

The Boss Battle

Just when Mark thought they were in the clear, the path ahead dissolved. In its place, a massive shape emerged from the void—a colossal machine-dragon, its body made of shifting data streams and jagged code.

"Aw, come on!" Byte groaned. "A dragon? Really?"

Aya grinned, cracking her knuckles. "I've always wanted to fight a dragon."

Mark glared at her. "You're enjoying this way too much."

The dragon roared, pixels scattering like embers. It lunged toward them, jaws wide.

Mark barely had time to react. "Spread out!" he shouted, diving to the side.

Aya dodged left, hurling a bolt of energy at the dragon's flank. Byte conjured more decoys, but the beast wasn't fooled—it swiped through the illusions with a flick of its tail, sending shockwaves through the platform.

Mark scrambled to his feet, his mind racing. "We need to find the glitch!"

Aya dodged another attack, her grin never faltering. "No pressure, genius!"

Mark scanned the dragon, searching for its weak point. There—it was hidden deep within the creature's code, buried under layers of encryption.

"I've got it!" Mark shouted. "I just need time to crack it!"

"Time we don't have!" Aya yelled, narrowly avoiding the dragon's snapping jaws.

Byte tossed another decoy. "Work faster, Veil!"

Mark gritted his teeth, his fingers flying. He dove deep into the dragon's code, bypassing firewalls and defusing traps. The encryption was tough, but not tough enough—Mark was too good for that.

"Almost... there..."

The dragon roared, lunging toward Mark. Aya sprinted forward, throwing herself between Mark and the beast. "Hurry!"

With one final keystroke, Mark hit the glitch. The dragon froze mid-lunge, its body flickering and stuttering. Aya dove aside as the creature's code unraveled, collapsing into a sea of pixels.

A New Threat Emerges

The platform stabilized, the path ahead reappearing. Mark slumped to the ground, exhausted but victorious. "We did it..." he panted.

Aya grinned, offering him a hand. "Told you we'd make it, genius."

Byte flopped onto the platform, gasping for breath. "Next time... can we fight something smaller? Like a rabid squirrel?"

Mark chuckled, still catching his breath. But just as he was starting to relax, the disembodied voice returned:

"Congratulations, Unauthorized Users. You have completed the Gauntlet. However, this was only the beginning."

Mark's heart sank. "Wait... what?"

Before any of them could react, a new notification appeared in Mark's interface:

SYSTEM ALERT: Agent Zero has entered the containment zone.

Mark's blood ran cold. Aya's grin faded.

"Well," Byte muttered, "we're screwed."